By having a scallop shell, a pilgrim could almost certainly prove that he or she had finished the pilgrimage and had actually seen the “End of the World” – Fisterra.

It also had practical purposes (you can use it for gathering water to drink or for eating out of as a makeshift bowl) and acted as a metaphor. The grooves in the shell, which come together at a single point, represent the various routes pilgrims travelled, eventually arriving at a single destination, the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela.